


The Price To Pay

by JustAnotherFan05



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Asgard, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, F/M, Infinity Gauntlet, Infinity Stones, Knowhere, Nova Corps, Pepperony - Freeform, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Vormir, Xandar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-05
Updated: 2018-09-05
Packaged: 2019-07-07 06:02:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15902346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAnotherFan05/pseuds/JustAnotherFan05
Summary: After Tony returns home from Titan, he finds new reasons to stand back up and fight against the efforts of the mad Titan, embarking on a journey that will bring back half the universe, but at what cost?





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all!
> 
> After seeing how many people read each of my different one shots, I see that you all prefer stories of standing up against bullies and anything 'Post Avengers Infinity War' - story development wise. 
> 
> So... I wrote a short story (less than 7,000 words) with four chapters that kind of goes into what I think will happen in the next Avengers movie. Some parts of it may seem kind of rushed, or cheesy, or both, but please keep an open mind and remember that I'm not really the best action writer... I like my fluffy one shots. :)
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and please let me know what you think by leaving a comment down below! Thanks for your support! 
> 
> P.S. FAIR WARNING! This is sort of an emotional fanfiction, so... prepare the tissues!

Chapter One

The word ‘heartbreak’ wasn’t a strong enough word to accurately describe how the great Tony Stark felt as he walked into the living room of their upstate New York mansion to see a small pile of black dust on the floor. He had hoped against hope during the exhausting trip home from Titan that he would come back to his fiancé, waiting to see him safe and sound, running towards his open arms as they wrapped each other in a warm hug. He wished to all the deities he could think of to spare her, just spare _her_ , so that he could carry on in the fight with the strength of knowing that she was safe. But the universe never granted any favors to the Merchant of Death.

As his entire world stood still and the noise of the universal pandemonium fell mute upon his ears, Tony Stark could only describe his feelings as pure pain. An all-consuming, ever-growing, full-fledged pain. And it was terrible.

Tony didn’t know what to do first – fall on his hands and knees to cry in his mourning or stand back up to fight with a new found rage. His heart ached with so much emotion, he was partly convinced that he could bring back the dead with sheer will power. Alas, no mortal man could ever match the power of a God, let alone bring back the woman he loved.

Suddenly, Tony fell onto his hands and knees and with all his battle wounds and the pain that came with them forgotten, he leaned over and cried until his chest burned. “I’m sorry, Pepper… I’m sorry I couldn’t stop him.”

Alone in the living room, Tony cried until his eyes ran dry, his cheeks turned rose red, and his breath heaved with heaviness. He sat down on the floor and leaned back against the bottom of the couch, sitting beside his fiancé as they should have been if Tony had never left. For a moment, the world was silent… It was the first quiet moment he had in the past few days and it would be the last for a long time.

“I’m so sorry, Pepper,” Tony apologized again, holding back his tears with a few loud sniffles. “I tried to stop him, I really did, but in the end, my best wasn’t good enough.”

Tony sat there for seemingly hours on end, watching the sun set slowly through the large living room windows. Eventually, his stomach got the best of him, pleading with him for both food and attention to his new battle wounds. So, Tony reluctantly pulled himself up and started toward the master bedroom.

When he stepped into the bedroom, he grabbed some new clothes then immediately walked into the bathroom for a nice hot shower. As he stood under the steady stream of water, the remnants of dried blood and fresh dirt fell off him and colored the draining water a dark red. A few soft grimaces in pain could be heard as the water stung against his cuts and bruises, but after experiencing so many injuries from numerous battles, the pain quickly died down to an ache.

After he finished his shower, he found himself staring at his own half naked reflection in the large mirror. It was the first time he had really seen himself since the fight on Titan, and to say that he was ‘beat up’ was a fast understatement.

There was a small cut across the bridge of his nose and a decent sized cut across his upper right cheek, not to mention the severe concussion he could feel settling in and the massive stab wound to his abdomen. Sure, he probably had worse injuries at some point in his life, but Pepper was always there to take care of him and now…

“Pepper would kill me if she knew I haven’t seen a doctor for this yet,” Tony whispered to himself as he gingerly touched his stab wound. The temporary ice seal he had put on it was beginning to wear off, and the skin around it was starting to turn a bright red – neither being a good sign.

Tony searched through the bathroom for the first aid kit and dug out a large bandage, pulling off the back peel and carefully sticking it on his wound with a soft _hiss_ in pain. ‘ _That should hold for now…_ ’ he thought to himself as he finished changing into a set of fresh clothes while trying not to aggravate his wounds.

As he turned around to throw his trash away, he noticed something _odd_ sitting in the bottom of the trash can. He leaned over a little to get a closer look and as soon as his eyes adjusted on the small object, he could feel himself practically freeze in place. He picked out the discarded item and held it in his hands, staring at it with wide eyes and a slightly dropped jaw.

It was a tiny plastic stick that he immediately recognized as a pregnancy test. A _positive_ pregnancy test, to be more specific.

For some reason, he couldn’t will himself to take his eyes _off_ the plastic stick in his hand as his mind whirled around like a crazy roller coaster with no end in sight. He thought back to their conversation in the park and how he was talking about the dream he had of them having a kid. Pepper denied it, but now that he thought about it, she was probably trying to keep it a secret to surprise him later. After all, Pepper loved surprising him…

Which means… He was right. She was pregnant. And now, Thanos had taken his entire _family_ away from him with the simple snap of his fingers.

Tony didn’t think he had anymore tears left to cry, but after finding out the most important news of his life then having it immediately ripped away from him broke his heart into even smaller pieces, creating enough cause for his body to produce another river of tears.

It was then that Tony found himself sitting on the bathroom floor with his back against the vanity, holding the positive pregnancy test in one hand and holding his head up with the other, crying even more sad and disappointed tears than he thought he ever could.

“Oh God, it hurts, Pepper,” Tony whined in his tears. “It hurts so much and it keeps getting worse!” he admitted angrily, feeling more upset with himself that he failed to protect his family.

His entire body ached – his heart physically hurt from the pain of heartbreak, his lungs burned with the torture of being unable to catch his breath, his soul died over and over again as he gazed at the test in his hand, and his body collapsed at the exhaustion from physical injury.

Tony had felt alone a million times before throughout the span of his life, but in that moment, he had never felt more alone as he sat on the bathroom floor with nothing but a pile of ashes and a plastic stick to keep him company.

He sat there for a while before he mustered up the energy to bring himself to his feet and wash his tears away with some cold water from the sink. He stared at himself in the mirror again, this time with an angry look in his eyes.

“I’m going to kill him,” Tony assured the world. “I’m going to kill Thanos, then I’m going to bring you back home.”

Finally, with all his tears shed, Tony stood up straight, ready to fight with a newly found rage of burning anger.

Before he left home, he went downstairs to his workshop and grabbed a tumbler sized red and gold canister off his desk, one he originally built for his suits as a pressurized oxygen tank. He quickly made his way back upstairs and carefully collected all of Pepper’s ashes, placing them in the container. When he finished, he sealed the canister and heard a soft _hiss_ as the device pressurized, forming an air tight seal and keeping her safe inside.

“Don’t worry, Pep,” Tony reassured her as he held the canister close to him. “I’ll fix this. I promise.”

Then, he rushed over to the kitchen and grabbed a quick snack for the road to shut up his rumbling stomach, taking a large bite of the premade sandwich on his way out to his car.

Tony took off toward the Avengers facility with a new vengeance and a new plan: attack.


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Back at the hidden Avengers facility, everyone who didn’t turn to ashes after the snap walked around like a bunch of lifeless zombies waiting for a new sense of direction. They all _felt_ like they had nothing left to do after they had all lost so much and now, everyone was sulking around in the horrible mutual feeling of survivors guilt. Even Captain America was reduced to sitting in the common room, staring blankly at the television screen, barely paying attention to the news caster reporting on the events the world was calling ‘the dusting’.

Tony walked into his workshop with his canister in hand, gently setting it down on his desk. Before he could get to work, he needed to check in with the rest of his team, all of whom he hadn’t seen since before he left on the giant doughnut shaped alien spaceship.

As he walked into the common room, he noticed a single figure sitting at the dining table with his arm propped up against the table, holding his head turned toward the television that hung on the wall.

“ _Our most recent reports tell us that these dustings have_ not _been targeted to the United States and have affected the entire world. As of this moment, there are no threats of war, but everyone is asking the same questions: What happened and where were the Avengers?_ ” the news reporter asked solemnly before he continued on the topic.

“Mute,” Tony ordered, , effectively getting FRIDAY to mute the television. At the sound of his voice, Steve Rogers turned around in his chair to face Tony, making eye contact with him for the first time since their fallout a few years ago.

“Tony,” Steve whispered, unable to break the awkward silence that lingered between them.

Tony walked over to the table and stood across from Steve with his arms crossed over his chest, looking at Steve for a long moment before he let out a deep sigh and sat down. “You know, those reporters never tell the full story,” he said calmly. “How could they? They’ll never see the battles fought behind the camera.”

“I don’t think they would want to see what happens when they’re not looking,” Steve added as he stared at Tony. “It’s a lot different from the pageantry they see us in when we’re not saving the world.”

“But superheroes give them hope and even though the world doesn’t realize it yet, we could all use a little more hope,” Tony continued, leaning back into his chair.

They sat there in a slightly more comfortable silence, watching each other closely, gauging one another’s reaction to their own presence.

“We tried to stop him,” Steve said, speaking for himself and the team that fought Thanos in Wakanda. “But we were no match for him once he had five of the infinity stones.”

“I know, we tried to stop him too,” Tony looked down at the table. “I could _barely_ make him bleed, but it wasn’t worth it to save my life… Not for the time stone. He should’ve let me die.”

Steve gave Tony a curious look, wondering what he meant by that. “You _gave_ Thanos the time stone?”

“ _I_ didn’t, the wizard did,” Tony explained, looking back up at Steve. “Thanos had me beat and he was about to kill me, but the wizard gave up the time stone to save me. He said ‘it was the only way’, but it wasn’t worth it… It just made it even harder for you to fight him later.”

Somehow, Steve couldn’t find a reason to be upset with Tony or any of the Avengers for their actions because saving Tony’s life meant they had Tony to help them save the world. “I’m glad you didn’t die.”

Tony gave Steve a small smile, hearing the words come out of Steve’s mouth reminded him that he still _cared_ about him, even after their fight. “I’m glad you didn’t die too.”

“We need to do something, Tony,” Steve mentioned, looking around the empty room then back at Tony. “We need to bring them all back home.”

“I know,” Tony agreed immediately.

“So, we’re going to need a new plan of attack,” Steve continued, hoping Tony had something in mind to help save the universe one last time.

“I have a plan – attack,” Tony said, saying the same thing a decade ago when he and Captain America were in the SHIELD plane being ambushed by Thor.

“We’re going to need something a lot better than a literal plan to attack,” Steve sighed softly. “We’re not playing around with small potatoes anymore, this guy means business.”

“Since when have we ever played with ‘small potatoes’? Every enemy we’ve faced almost succeeded in killing all of us,” Tony defended, crossing his arms over his chest again.

Steve shook his head. “I know, but Thanos,” he paused, looking back at the television and seeing the chaos the world was suddenly thrusted into. “He’s different. He’s…”

“Stronger,” Tony finished for him. “And for the first time, he _actually_ beat us.”

“Exactly,” Steve nodded, grateful that they were finally getting on the same page.

“Well, I have a plan for that too,” Tony smirked, looking confident and brilliant, and to be honest, it was the most comforting sight Steve could’ve ever asked for.

*

It was a dodgy plan and there was only a one in about fourteen million chance of it being successful, but at this point, the team was willing to do anything to get half the world back.

“Are you _sure_ it works like that?” Bruce Banner asked as all six original Avengers and Rhodey gathered in the living room for an impromptu team meeting.

Tony shrugged his shoulders. “What other choice do we have?” he asked and no one answered.

“How much time do you need to build the upgrade?” Natasha Romanoff asked Tony curiously.

“If I can get Thor to help me figure out the power equations, maybe three days,” Tony replied.

Thor nodded in agreement to help. “I will help you in whatever way I can.”

“And I can help you out with some of the coding as well,” Bruce offered, earning a grateful nod from Tony and Thor.

“Alright, then it’s settled. Let’s get to work,” Steve confirmed with everyone and without another moment of hesitation, everyone stood up and started Operation Save the World (again).

*

After three _long_ days of non-stop work in the lab with Bruce and Thor, Tony finally finished the upgrade to one of his new Iron Man suits. The three men stood back to admire their work, patting each other on the back with proud smiles on their faces.

“And we’re sure this will work,” Bruce asked one more time, hopeful and skeptical at the same time.

“We’ve accounted for the total amount of power from all six infinity stones, thanks to Thor’s help, and we’ve tested the calibrations on the suit a million times with FRIDAY,” Tony assured his friend. “It’s going to work. It _has_ to work.”

The team of three had built their very own ‘infinity gauntlet’ and attached it to the right arm of the Iron Man suit, making it almost impossible for anyone to pull it off of Tony’s hand. Their goal: to collect all the infinity stones _before_ Thanos and undo the titan’s work.

“Doctor Banner, did you finish the time portal device?” Thor asked, turning to look at Bruce.

Bruce nodded quickly and went to grab the device he had been working on for the past few days. “Yeah, here it is,” he said, showing the two men a circular metal device that wasn’t any bigger than a table coaster.

“Well done, Bruce,” Tony admired the doctor’s work, picking up the device and inspecting it carefully. “How much juice does it have on it?”

“Enough to transport _two_ people through time twice, once to get you to Asgard for the space stone and once to get you back home,” Bruce informed him. “But remember, once you use it, you’ll only have twelve hours to collect all six stones before you start to break the universal time continuum.”

“And what happens if we accidentally stay too long?” Tony asked him curiously.

“A small break in the time continuum, even something as simple as asking Jarvis for a favor, could affect the present world drastically, possibly even negatively,” Bruce explained quickly.

“Right,” Tony nodded in understanding, slipping the device into the small compartment built into the new suit.

“How exactly did you figure out time travel, doctor?” Thor wondered in pure amazement.

“It’s not exactly time travel, per se, but more like rippling through time,” Bruce tried to explain to him. “That’s why only two people can go and for a limited amount of time, or else, it becomes far too dangerous.”

“You’re a genius, Bruce, a genius!” Tony praised, hugging his fellow scientist. “Come on, we have a world to save.”

Without further delay, the three team members gathered the rest of the Avengers in the common room, telling them all that everything was ready for action.

“So, if only two people can go, who’s going with Tony?” Natasha asked the obvious question on everyone’s mind as they all stood around the living room, each of them already dressed in their uniforms, ready for a battle. 

A long silence blanketed the entire team until Bruce spoke up with a tentative voice and a raised hand. “Not to seem unwilling but I volunteer to stay behind,” he told everyone. “I don’t think the _other guy_ will be much help and I don’t think _I’ll_ be much help without the other guy.”

Everyone understood and truth be told, Tony was grateful Bruce would be staying behind. In case something bad were to happen while they were gone, Tony knew he could count on Bruce to help them get back home.

“If Banner is staying, then I guess I’ll stay as well,” Natasha volunteered, looking between Tony and Bruce. “You know, to hold down the fort while you guys are away.”

As much as she hated to admit it, Natasha knew she wouldn’t be much help with only her hand guns and her fighting skills in the midst of an epic battle against the mad titan.

“I’ll stay too, to help Nat,” Clint agreed, having exactly the same reason as Natasha to stay behind. Him and his twelve arrows would be hardly any help to the team.

Tony looked over at Rhodey with a pointed yet worried look, and as if speaking telepathically, Rhodey nodded and raised his hand as well. “I’ll stay here as well,” he volunteered, knowing that if he went with Tony, he would only be another person for Tony to worry about. Tony smiled at him gratefully, thankful that his friend was willing to take one for the team and stay behind.

So, it was down to Steve or Thor. And surprisingly, Thor spoke up first.

“I think it would be best for _you_ to go, Captain,” Thor told Steve. “Not that I am unwilling, but seeing you and Stark work better as a team, it would be beneficial if you two went together.”

And his words couldn’t hold more truth to them. Most of the team worked well enough together, but back in the day before the Sokovia Accords, Steve and Tony worked the best as a team of their own.

Steve nodded in agreement and looked at Tony for approval, smiling as Tony gave him a short nod in agreement as well. “Okay, it’s settled. Tony and I will go together while the rest of you hold down the fort here at home,” Steve said, standing up beside Tony.

“Remember, you need to find the space stone first so you can use it to travel between worlds to collect the rest of the stones,” Bruce reminded them.

“Afterwards, I think your best course of action is to find the power stone, as it will strengthen the power of the rest of the stones as you find them,” Thor suggested to the duo.

Tony and Steve nodded in understanding, looking at their team standing in front of them. “If we don’t come back,” Tony started cautiously. “Don’t give up.”

“Good luck, my friends,” Thor smiled at them as the entire team wished them well.

With that, Tony pulled the time travel device out of his suit and held it between himself and Steve. Tony’s helmet quickly built up out of his suit and formed around his head, the eyes glowing a bright blue. Then, he pushed the button on the center of the device and in the blink of their eyes, the two of them were traveling through time and space until they arrived at their first destination: Asgard.


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this is the chapter I warned you about where it gets a little (if not a lot, admittingly) rushed... As I said, I'm not the best at writing action scenes and I didn't want to go on about how they collected the stones but rather what happens once they completed the infinity gauntlet. 
> 
> Nevertheless, I hope you all still enjoy it!

Chapter Three

On Asgard, it wasn’t too much trouble to convince Thor from 2012 to let them have the tesseract in order to use the space stone. After all, they had all just finished fighting alongside one another in the Battle of Manhattan, and Thor trusted the Avengers and the midgardians.

Once they had the space stone in the gauntlet, they used its power to travel to Xandar where they located the Nova Corps Headquarters. It took a little extra sweet talking and a lot more convincing, but eventually, Commander Rael agreed to let them _borrow_ the power stone after Tony and Steve explained what Thanos would do in the future if Nova Corps kept the stone.

After collecting the power stone, they rushed over to Knowhere and found the Collector’s Museum. Obviously, they would never be able to talk the collector into _giving_ them the stone, so Tony and Steve came up with the brilliant plan of _stealing_ it. Luckily, it all worked out with minimal injury… to the collector. Nothing a good night’s sleep couldn’t wear off though.

With three of the six stones on the gauntlet, Tony and Steve traveled back to Earth to meet Doctor Strange in New York. Surprisingly, it was as if he _knew_ they were coming for the stone, and after seeing their growing collection of infinity stones, the good doctor agreed to let them use the time stone on the single condition that he would be joining them on their journey until they went back to present time. Tony and Steve were worried at first, thinking it would disrupt the time continuum, but Doctor Strange said ‘I work with the time stone for a living, I think I know how to preserve the current timeline.’ So it was settled, and the group of two became a group of three.

Eventually, they made their way downtown to the Avengers Tower in the middle of Manhattan. It was a lot harder to sneak onto his property than it was to sneak into the Collector’s Museum, but neither Tony nor Steve wanted to take the risk of running into themselves and messing everything up. It took quite the agile stealth, but Tony finally made it to his workshop while past Tony was preoccupied outside of the lab. Tony grabbed Loki’s scepter and smashed the top, revealing the mind stone. He picked it up and added it to his gauntlet, but before he left, he grabbed a piece of paper and wrote a note to his old self.

‘ _Note to self: Backup Jarvis’ database_ before _uploading him into the android body. Possible scepter replacement – nano sized arc reactor technology._ ’

Finding the first five infinity stones proved a lot easier than either Tony and Steve expected, but it was time consuming, and heeding Bruce’s warning, they only had a few hours left before they had to return home or else bad things were bound to happen.

“Alright, so where’s the soul stone?” Tony asked, looking between Steve and Stephen as if they had a magical answer.

Thank the universe, Doctor Strange had read far too many books from the super-secret wizard library and knew exactly where to go. “Vormir.”

“That sounds spooky,” Tony winced, hearing the name and physically feeling his heart drop. Nothing good came out of a planet called ‘Vormir’…

“It is,” Doctor Strange agreed to Tony’s childish antics. “Vormir is a remote barren planet on the other side of the universe, but it’s where the final stone is located.”

“Then let’s go,” Steve started, standing up from his spot leaning against the wall.

Doctor Strange hesitated and shook his head. “I cannot travel with you any longer,” he told the duo. “Me going to Vormir with you will be the beginning of a horrible rip through time.”

Tony and Steve shared a look before nodding toward the wizard. “Alright, well, thank you for your help, I guess,” Tony shook his hand.

“I hope you get what you need,” Doctor Strange shook their hands in return. “The fate of the universe depends on it.”

“We know,” Steve agreed as Doctor Strange took a few steps back, standing away from them.

Tony used the gauntlet and opened another space portal, stepping through with Steve to the planet of Vormir and leaving the wizard behind. Little did they know, it was the last time one of them would see Planet Earth.

*

On Vormir, Tony and Steve walked through the darkened dunes of sand toward the tall mountains that undoubtedly held the soul stone. As they hiked up the rigorous mountain side to the top, a dark cloaked floating figure approached them.

“Welcome, Tony Stark,” the figure’s deep voice echoed, surprising the superheroes and stopping them in their tracks. “Son of Howard Stark. And Steve Rogers, son of Joseph Rogers.”

“You know us?” Tony asked, standing on guard with his suit fully armed and ready for any battle thrown their way.

“Yes, it is my curse to know all who journey here,” the figure continued.

“Where’s the soul stone?” Tony asked further, standing a little less at guard but his suit still lit up like a Christmas tree.

“You should know, it extracts a terrible price,” the figure warned them.

Tony looked at Steve, who nodded at him in return. “I’m ready,” Tony told the figure confidently.

The figure gently lowered to the ground as he spoke. “We all think that at first,” he said as he stepped into the light, revealing his face: Red Skull. Steve immediately stood taller and more on guard than Tony, seeing his past enemy in front of him. “We are all wrong,” he warned again, looking between Tony and Captain America.

However, Red Skull put up no fight as he led them both to the top of the mountain to a large structure made of two massive twin pillars and multiple smaller pillars.

“How is it you know this place so well?” Steve asked, wondering a lot of different things like ‘ _How is he still alive_?’ and ‘ _How did he get here_?’ but more importantly, ‘ _How come he knows exactly where to go_?’

“In our lifetime long ago, I too sought the stones. I even held one in my hand, and the Captain was there,” Red Skull told them. “But it cast me out and banished me _here_ , guiding others to a treasure I cannot possess.”

Tony looked at Steve questioningly, but it would be a question and a conversation for another time. Red Skull led them both to the edge of the cliff, overlooking a deep drop down to the bottom of the mountain.

“What you seek lies in front of you, as does what you fear,” Red Skull explained, the wind blowing against them softly.

“What is this?” Steve asked, looking around and not seeing any kind of soul stone or worthiness test except for the mountain in front of them, the mountain they were on, and the huge gap between them.

“The price,” Red Skull said. “A soul holds a special place among the infinity stones. You might say it has a certain… wisdom.”

“Tell us what it needs,” Tony ordered Red Skull, retracting his helmet into his suit and walking closer to the edge of the cliff, looking over it cautiously.

“To ensure that whoever possesses it understands its power, the stone demands a sacrifice,” Red Skull explained, earning a shocked look from both Tony and Steve.

“What?” Tony huffed, looking over his shoulder at Red Skull.

“In order to take the stone, you must lose that which you love,” Red Skull continued, making Tony turn around to look at the him then at Steve. “A soul for a soul.”

Tony looked away from Steve back towards the cliff, wondering what that could mean. Pepper was already gone… And there was only one person in the world that he looked up to and considered a part of his family ever since his father started talking about him when he was a little boy…

“Howard used to talk a lot about having a son,” Steve started, walking up behind Tony. “You weren’t born yet, but all Howard could ever dream of was sharing the workshop with another Stark.”

Tony turned around to look at Steve, both their eyes filled with knowing and sadness. “Steve…”

“I know we’ve had our disagreements, but what kind of family doesn’t argue every now and then?” Steve smiled sadly, placing his hand on Tony’s shoulder. “I know you feel like I took your father away from you when he was trying to find me, but ever since we met, I feel like we’ve been a lot like… brothers.”

“Steve, I can’t… I… I’ll go instead,” Tony offered, looking between Steve and the cliff beside them quickly.

“You know you can’t do that,” Steve shook his head.

“But… You’re the only family I have left,” Tony begged, telling himself not to cry but letting a single tear spill down his cheek.

“That’s _exactly_ why it has to be me,” Steve confirmed with Tony.

“I’m so sorry, Steve,” Tony whimpered, letting a few more tears escape from his eyes.

Steve looked at Tony and nodded reassuringly, giving Tony a small smile as if to say ‘It’ll all be okay.’ He held out his hand and allowed Tony to take hold of him, leading them to the very edge of the cliff. Steve stood on the outer edge, facing Tony.

“There has to be another way,” Tony said, looking over his shoulder back at Red Skull, but the ghostly figure only shook his head to confirm that there was only one way to get the soul stone: the hard way.

Tony looked back at Steve, his eyes filled with pain and sadness with a mixture of confusion and hesitation, all signs Steve could physically see from Tony’s expression. “It’s the only way,” Steve told him and with one last small smile and another whispered apology, Tony pushed Steve off the edge of the cliff and turned his head to look away as his childhood hero fell to his death.

Once again, the world fell mute upon his ears as Tony squeezed his eyes shut, unable to look down at the crime he had just committed against his own morals and his own heart. Then, with a flash of bright light, Tony was transported back to the middle of the dark sandy dunes in a large puddle of water and when he sat up, he found the soul stone in his hand.

“I’m sorry,” Tony whispered again, looking behind him at the tall mountain he came from before turning around and placing the last infinity stone in his gauntlet, wondering if Steve’s death was a sacrifice worth making.


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Tony used the time travel device to travel back to the present world with only ten minutes to spare before the twelve hour limit was complete.

He landed back in the common room of the Avengers facility, stumbling backwards to gain his balance as he looked around the room and noticed the entire team still sitting around, waiting.

“Tony!” Natasha and Bruce exclaimed at the same time, standing onto their feet and rushing over to meet their fellow Avenger.

“Did it work? Did you get all the stones? Where’s Steve?” Natasha asked rapidly, confusing Tony enough to make the armored avenger rub his head tiredly.

“Uh, yeah, it worked,” Tony nodded, showing them the completed gauntlet. “But Steve…”

No further words needed to be said for the entire team of battle experienced heroes to understand what wasn’t spoken.

“If you do this right, Tony,” Bruce started to explain. “Maybe, just maybe, we can bring Steve back too…”

Tony nodded and closed his eyes, trying to formulate exactly what he was going to ‘wish’ for when he snapped his fingers. It was a long sentence, but he needed every bit of it to make sure he saved the universe and his team.

“Alright, are we ready?” Tony asked, opening his eyes and looking between all his team mates, who all nodded simultaneously at him with eagerness and hope. “With the snap of my fingers, I will defeat Thanos and prevent him from ever having the infinity gauntlet, ultimately bringing back the entire universe, including all those who were sacrificed to save it.”

Everyone smiled at Tony, listening to what his ‘wish’ was, and without another moment of hesitation, Tony snapped his fingers and suddenly, the entire universe turned white.

*

When everyone came to, they were all lying down on the floor of the common room, pushed down by a massive force that granted Tony his wish.

Tony’s Iron Man suit as well as the infinity gauntlet on his right arm were completely burnt, rendering both absolutely useless. Tony scrambled out of the suit in a mild panic, hoping that it wouldn’t burn him, but as he sat on his knees beside his deteriorating suit, he noticed a large burn scar from his wrist all the way up to his shoulder, the personal price to pay for using such a powerful weapon. However, other than his new scar, all his previous injuries had magically disappeared… There was no stab wound, no cuts and bruises, and for once, his head felt fine.

The rest of the team slowly sat up, looking around and rubbing their heads. “Did it work?” Clint asked, searching for the heroes they lost around the room.

“Tony! Are you okay?” Rhodey rushed over to his friend, seeing his friend sitting on the other side of the room, staring at his arm.

“Oh gosh, Tony!” Bruce added, noticing Tony with Rhodey and rushing over to help him.

Natasha raced over as well, assessing the injuries on his arm. They weren’t the kind of burn marks people got from a fire, but the kind of burn that came from a branding. “Tony…”  

All the people calling out his name gave him a headache, so Tony pushed them away naturally. “I’m fine, I’m fine,” he sighed, looking at his arm again and shaking his head. “Stop calling me.”

“Tony?” a soft voice spoke, grabbing Tony’s attention faster than a puppy hearing the word ‘treat’. It was a voice Tony would recognize with his eyes closed and his ears covered, even from a mile away. It was _her_ voice… The only voice he _wanted_ to hear.

Tony turned around so fast, he got a mild case of whiplash that he quickly pushed away as his eyes met the ocean blue orbs of the woman he loved more than life itself. “Pepper…”

It all happened so fast, but for them, time slowed down as Tony pushed off the floor onto his feet, racing toward Pepper as she walked toward him from the hallway. Suddenly, they were crashing into each other, holding one another in a tight embrace. Tony buried his face in the crook of Pepper’s neck, crying tears of joy as they reunited while Pepper rested her head on his shoulder, letting out a few quiet tears of happiness of her own as she held him in her arms.

“Pepper,” Tony mumbled in his tears, making Pepper’s shoulder wet. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry I left you and I… I…”

“Shh, it’s okay, honey,” Pepper rubbed his back soothingly, kissing Tony’s neck softly. “I’m alright. It’s okay.”

Tony finally pulled away from Pepper, giving them just enough room to share a passionate, deep kiss. Neither of them had a single care in the world that the rest of the team was watching them from the living room. They held their kiss for as long as they wanted until they were both confident that this was real, she was back, they were together again.

“I… I found the test in the bathroom,” Tony told her shakily, still recovering from his cries.

A small smile grew on Pepper’s face as she raised her hand to caress Tony’s cheek. “You were right,” she chuckled softly. “But we’ll have to reconfirm after everything that’s happened.”

Tony nodded in agreement and wiped the tears off his face before he moved in to hug Pepper again, unable to get enough love from his fiancé.

Their moment was shortly interrupted by a loud rustle from further down the hallway and everyone in the common room turned their heads toward the source of the sound. Then, like a high school reunion party, the rest of the Avengers – including Steve – walked into the room.

“Steve!” Tony exclaimed, being the first to run and meet his friend, grateful to have him back. “I’m so sorry… I had no choice.”

“You don’t need to apologize, Tony,” Steve reassured Tony with a smile. “You did it, you brought everyone back.”

Tony and Steve shared in a hug as the other Avengers rushed over to meet their returned fellow team mates. Then, Tony spotted a young teenager who looked quite confused and certainly shy.

“Hey kid!” Tony called out, quickly getting Peter Parker’s attention. “Come here,” he continued, holding his arms out for a hug. It was a hug well deserved and a hug well needed, and Peter ran into his arms so fast, Tony knew Peter needed all the love he could get too. Tony held Peter in his arms for a while, feeling as if he were his own son.

When Tony finally let go to greet the other team members, he noticed something _different_ about Vision… “Your stone, it’s not yellow. It’s… _blue_ ,” Tony pointed out curiously.

“It’s always been blue,” Vision replied, his voice still sounding a lot like Jarvis’.

“Didn’t you have the mind stone?” Tony wondered and the rest of the team looked at Tony incredulously.

“The mind stone is on Asgard,” Vision reminded his friend, remembering how Thor brought back Loki’s scepter a long time ago. “I am powered by your own tech, remember? You created nano sized arc reactors.”

It was then that it dawned on Tony… The note he left old Tony at the Avengers Tower… It must have worked.

“Wait a second,” Tony stepped back and looked toward the ceiling. “Jarvis?!” he called out for the AI.

“Yes, Sir?” Jarvis responded, surprising Tony even further. The note must have reminded old Tony to backup Jarvis’ database as well, because the AI was seemingly still alive and kicking.

“I missed you, bud,” Tony smiled at the cameras on the ceiling, letting out a breath of relief.

“I missed you too, Sir,” Jarvis replied, and if Tony could guess, it sounded like Jarvis knew he had been gone for a long time.

After they all shared their hugs and happy greeting, the team gathered around the television and turned on the latest news.

“ _In breaking news, we have confirmed the multiple reports stating that_ all _victims of ‘the dusting’ have returned from the ashes and are alive! We’ll bring you more updates as we get them but as for now, we all know that there’s only one team of people who could be responsible for this… So, thank you Avengers, for saving the world again,_ ” the same news caster from before reported with a huge smile on his face and the most gracious tone any of them had ever heard from a reporter.

“We did it,” Tony smiled, wrapping his arm around Pepper’s shoulder and holding her close.

Everyone shook their heads and faced Tony. “No, _you_ did it,” Steve corrected, patting Tony on the shoulder.

Tony smiled on proudly, finally at peace with the return of half the universe. And for once in their lives, the great Tony Stark could only say one thing: “So, who’s hungry?”

The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the end. I hope you all enjoyed this story and don't forget to let me know down in the comments what you thought about it and if you want to see more stories like this!
> 
> Thank you again for all your continuous support! Happy reading!


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